


Discordance of Scioego

by narcissisticSpaghetti



Series: Discordance of Scioego [1]
Category: Homestuck
Genre: Fantasy, Humanstuck, Prophecy, Religion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-07
Updated: 2014-12-26
Packaged: 2018-02-16 12:04:47
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,109
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2269029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/narcissisticSpaghetti/pseuds/narcissisticSpaghetti
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I think I'm just starting over with a separate book. I love this premise but It won't work with these characters. I'll only leave this up until I rewrite more than what's here.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

I would like to tell the readers that I am a proud man, a leader, a savior and a man with many talents. A man with patience and kindness, a man who cares for others and a man who loves his neighbor. (Even if said neighbor is a sad excuse for a page with no sense, a head too big for his shoulders and a stutter so bad you can barely understand him.)

I unfortunately have to tell the readers that I am actually none of these things. But I wish I was.

What I am, though, is 14 years old, loud, and I have a big mouth. And I am an orphan, found at birth near town by a four-year-old girl. Said four-year-old girl is today a brilliant woman who is living as a nun, and still takes care of me. And I would never admit it anywhere other than this here but, I love her dearly.

My name is Karkat Vantas, and I live with Kanaya in the only church in the small town near which I was found.

 

Today started like any other day, Kanaya woke me up and beckoned me downstairs with the promise of breakfast. I still live in the church. It took the entire collection of nuns and the Holy Representative insisting to get me an exemption from the barracks, I’m still not sure why, but it’s more comfortable here. The trade-off is that I have to get up at the same time and get to training early. I am a page, a knight in training, and I’ve been working at it for years now.

I’m not really sure why I want to be a knight but I have been training for it since I was small. It just feels right.

Breakfast is served in a small dining room behind the sanctuary, and usually consists of bread and cheese, and on Sundays wine. I don’t like wine, it smells bad and it kind of stings your tongue. But it’s a nice break from the daily water, and it’s only half a mug. Today is not such a day though, and I wouldn’t have time for pouring anyway. Tavros convinced me to come early to training, he wanted me to see the other page’s morning routines, and their place of worship, he said it was “Very awe-inspiring!” and I wasn’t about to pass up the opportunity of something that cool.

“Your portion, Karkat.” Matron offered me a plate of bread and cheese, the usual half a loaf and two thin slices. She had already buttered it, she knew I liked the butter.

“Actually, I will take it with me, I am running late to training.” I took the proffered plate and poured the contents into a small sack, setting it gently on the table and tying the sack to my belt.

“But you don’t have to be there for another two hours.” Sister Ebreya protested. “Are you sure you are running late?”

“Tavros told me to come early today, they were recently taken to the knight’s temple and he wants me to see it.”

Matron wrinkled her nose and continued to serve the women around the table. “The knights do not worship the Gods. They keep their own practices and disregard our history in favor of more immediate satisfactions.”

One of the other Sisters covered her mouth with her hand and Kanaya looked a bit put-out, but she added onto Matron’s words anyway. “You are free to do as you please, and you are encouraged to explore their beliefs, but keep in mind that the new Religion is everywhere, and many have taken up practices of their own.”

Matron scowled at Kanaya and kept talking. “The old Gods have kept our race from destruction for many thousands of years, and have given us hope for a future we can flourish in. Do not forget that, and do not believe what they tell you of miracles and guidance. They practice blasphemy.”

I was taken-aback, I never expected this sort of outspoken behavior from Matron. She was strong, and she was firm in her belief, but she had never seemed so determined to affirm her own standing. “Matron I understand. I simply wish to see what Tavros wanted to show me, I had no intention of adopting their beliefs.”

“Good. You come back to us, boy. You are safe here.”

“Thank you, Matron. I will be back.” I nodded to her, and turned to go.

I was only a few steps out the door when Kanaya caught up with me, a hand on my shoulder, and drew me away to speak in private. “Karkat, you know she loves you dearly, and you know she thinks of you as her own. I know she seemed out of character just now, but please you have to understand there are circumstances you don’t know about.”

“Such as what?” I asked. “Tell me.”

“I cannot, you are not to know yet.” She smiled at me warmly, and took my hands. “Just know, that these scars about your wrists? They mean something to her. Something very important. Which is why you must cover them.” She let go, and reached into her pocket, pulling out two small cotton scarves and tied them over my scars. “They could mean something important to others if they found out. Not many will know, but those that will are dangerous.”

“Where are they from?”

“We do not know, they were there when I found you. I assume you were born with them.” She placed a hand over one of the wraps and looks back up at me. “You should go, you do not want to be late to whatever Tavros wanted to show you.”

“Oh! Tavros!” I had almost forgotten in such a short time. I kissed Kanaya on the cheek and I turned and hurried through the sanctuary, narrowly avoiding knocking my knee against a table, and the moment I got out the doors I was running full tilt for the barracks.

I nearly ran into Gamzee on my way, he was crossing the street, his lute strapped to his back as usual and he yelped as I ran right past him. “Karkat my brother, what’s got you running like a scared cat?” The bard shouted after me.

“I’m late!” Was all I could think to say as I turned the corner and kept going. I heard him call something else but I didn’t catch it.

~

As I sneak into the Knight’s Hold, I realize I had never skipped breakfast before. Only when I was sick and couldn’t move from bed, but something had always been brought for me. I suddenly felt a little bad for skipping out on the Sisters, and for upsetting Matron. But I didn’t have time now to go back and apologize. I made a mental note to do so when I returned.

The Knight’s Hold is a very large building near the edge of town, not too far from the Empress’s palace. There, all pages and knights train in hand-to-hand combat, swordsmanship and general weaponry, and how to assist the people with day-to-day tasks.

As a knight, it would be my duty to protect the people and the kingdom in the face of war, but in the absence of a fight we are basically hands for hire. And they make the pages do all the unwanted jobs, like cleaning out baths and clogs in the sewage lines, shoveling livestock manure etc.

But I like it. It’s decent, honest work and it makes me feel needed, it keeps my hands busy, and I like to focus on a task. Occasionally the people have some spare coins to give the us for our hard work. I like to save the money, I have 40 gold stashed under my bed in an old sock.

It was much earlier than I normally show up, the sun had barely shown it’s nose and I was a bit less awake than I thought I was. But the loud sound of banging drums had my eyes wider in seconds. The Hold was full of shouting, and men and boys scrambling for the courtyard to assemble.

It took me only a few minutes to find Tavros in the mess of unruly males but it felt like much longer, I could smell sweat and tiredness everywhere. Settling beside Tavros in the ranks, I whispered a good morning to him and copied his excited stance as best I could. Head held high shoulders back, feet close together.

“Good morning!” He whispered back, just a little too loudly. Someone nearby hissed an order to quiet down. “What are you doing here so early?” He whispered quieter.

“You told me you wanted to show me something.” I answered, leaning toward his ear to make sure I was heard over the almost deafening silence of the courtyard.

“Oh right, the tower!” He smiles as he looks up toward the man shouting orders in front of the assembly.

“Shhh!” Someone nearby hissed again, and he winked at me to let me know he wasn’t finished.

We were quiet for a while until the man in front shouted the order to walk, and we all started marching out the front gate. He started talking again once we were moving.

“I recently moved up a ranking, one more notch until I hit Knight, and once you get this far you get to go to worship with the guard. The younger boys get to sleep in a bit longer, and then have to get up to do chores like washing armor and cleaning boots. But this is much more interesting!” He seemed excited and then dropped his voice. “I’m not supposed to tell anyone, only knights and pages my level can know, but if you see it for yourself it’s not telling anyone. Plus, you’ll know in a few months anyway so no big deal.”

“Clever,” I have to admit I was suddenly much more curious. I love secrets, I’m not so great at keeping them but I like them all the same.

Tavros was just under two years younger than me, but I had started training two years late so while I was older I was still a rank below him until I turned fifteen. Which was still four months away.

I marched with the guard, keeping my chin up and keeping time as I had been taught for years. When we passed under the front gate we marched down the road out of town, up along the coastline. I knew the area but I had never been this far before. And I had never known the guard to come out this way. You could hear them marching down around the city in the mornings but you couldn’t tell where they were going past the Bridge. Everyone knew of the Bridge, but not many people ever used it. It looked old and only merchants came through this way. The bridge itself was partially hidden from view of the city, some kids went down there to bathe or to throw rocks, but not many adults every strayed that far.

Passing over it I was tempted to hold my breath, and I prayed to the old Gods for a safe journey, wherever we were headed.

~

We had been walking for maybe ten whole minutes before I got too curious.

“Where are we going?” I asked.

“Worship.” Tavros told me again.

“Why don’t you go to the church?”

“The Knights worship in their own temple, there is a priestess there who supposedly can see the future. They go to her for guidance before missions.”

Another boy nearby cuts in. “She can see the future! One of the Knights I was working with last year told me all about it. He went to her before a mission into the woods, and she told him he would meet the love of his life out there. He came back to town with a beautiful woman named Lillian, and he made her his wife a few months ago.”

“Sir. Yale told me she foretold the loss of his little finger!” yet another boy cut in.

“Silence!” A Knight nearby shouted at us, and the stories stopped suddenly.

And then I could see it, a little old building on a tall outcropping of rock that extended into the sea. I had heard of that building, it was always referred to as “Light’s tear.” It looked too elaborate to be a temple, it looked more like a noble’s home. No one in town has ever known it to be a temple, but there were dozens of ghost stories about the place, and I had heard many versions.

The most common theme was a girl, long dead, who sat in the higher rooms and cried most nights.

It looked just as haunted as I imagined, maybe even more so; dilapidated and old, many stones seem to have crumbled and fallen. And while it still stands and it looks sturdy enough at the time I doubted it would last more than a few more years. As we entered the building, it was easy to notice the wooden front doors looked much newer than the rest of the building, with shiny locks and sturdy pivots. But inside looked just as bad as the out, if only marginally better.

Rusted sconces on the walls with sputtering flames, dirty carpets, torn wall-hangings and broken furniture. It looked like it really did used to be a nobles home, it had just been reappropriated.

What appeared to be the “sanctuary”, looks like it used to be an old foyeur or a small ballroom, and there were small windows high up that provided just enough light to see but offered no view of the outside world.

There were no seats, no pews, so we had to stand. Everyone filed into the large room and stoods still, quiet and attentive as they waited for whatever came next.

“Gods bless you today, in that which you endeavor to complete and create.” I hadn’t noticed the girl at the front of the room, I was too distracted by the architecture, and her words had startled me.

She sat straight up in what looked to be a small throne of pillows in various shades of white and cream. There were a few large sheets draped around her, somehow hanging from a pole or something above. “Gods bless your souls and minds,” She spoke from memory, clear and loud. This must have been the ghost so many talked about. And the priestess the boys spoke of on the way there.

She was so young, too young, to be any religious figure. She must have been my age, or younger even. And even though she spoke clearly and without falter, I could hear the stress in her voice. I couldn’t see her eyes, nor the rest of her, she was hidden behind a thin veil that obscured any details. All I could make out was what looked like red hair, nothing more.

I was still too distracted by the rotting architecture, and the boys around me as well as by her to register most of what she said. The building reminded me of a prison, it was drafty and the walls were high, there were few doors and the windows were too high to be any sort of comforting.

The pages and the knights around me were all silent, it was actually eerie just how quiet the room was with so many people packed into one small space. Very few fidgeted and they were good at disguising it if they did.

And there was still that stress in her voice that I couldn’t place. Just a small shiver to her words, a tiny hint of distress. I had no idea what its cause was but I was drawn to it, compelled to talk to her, ask her what made her so sad.

And just like that, the ceremony was over, and I found myself and the rest of the boys in the room ushered out of the building and back along the coast. But I was still so curious. I resolved to come back soon and try to talk to her.

I had to know.


	2. Two

When I returned to the church that evening, I was met with warm smiles and the sisters were more than happy to fill my plate with some of the soup they had made while I was away. Everything was happy, and normal. But Matron was absent from dinner.

Matron was never absent from a meal. She never got sick and she was never away for longer than a day. I was almost never absent, I always stayed just a bit longer in the mornings to have breakfast and the nuns had moved dinner back an extra hour and a half just so they could be ready when I came home from the Hold. But I had never once heard of Matron being absent from a meal, even before I was found.

When I asked, the Sisters had exchanged looks, and Sister Ieotus had told me that she was in the upper prayer room. And she hadn’t come out in hours. They had knocked twice with no response.

Dinner was a quiet affair, there wasn’t much chatter (there usually wasn’t) but tonight it just seemed dull. I usually looked forward to soup, it had potatoes and bits of meat even, which was a rare treat. But I was too distracted by too many things to enjoy it as much as usual.

Sister Keyton noticed. “Boy, are you feeling well?” He asked, pressing the back of his hand against my forehead. “You seem distracted, and you’ve barely touched your supper.”

“I saw the knight’s place of worship today. There was a girl there, a young girl, who performed the ceremony. I want to meet her, and ask her something.” I never lie to the Sisters.

“A girl?” He pressed. “Since when are you interested in girls?” A couple of the other Sisters laughed quietly.

“Not girls! Just this one. She seemed so sad.”

“What do you want to ask her?” Sister Ebreya chimed in, her head tilted slightly.

“Why she is so sad.”

“What is her name?” Sister Judith doesn’t speak much, but she always helps when she does.

“I don’t know.”

Sister Ysmith coughed quietly, and then sniffled a bit before asking yet another question. “Where was this ceremony?”

“Light’s tear.”

All the Sisters went silent.

“What is it?” I demanded when no one said anything more. “What is wrong?”

“You went to Light’s tear?” Sister Judith asked.

I took a few seconds to review the conversation in my head but I found nothing wrong. “Yes?”

“You are never to go back there. That place is full of darkness and it will drive you mad.” I had never heard something like that from any of the Sisters, let alone Ebreya. She was always so cheerful, she seemed like a different person with that look on her face.

I didn’t want to argue, I never argued with the Sisters. But they made no sense to me at the time.

“I’m going upstairs.” I meant to go to my room, shared with Kanaya upstairs and divided by a large curtain for privacy. And I was halfway down the hall, too. When I caught sight of the prayer room door, and remembered what they said about Matron. I listened at the door and I heard murmuring, so I knocked.

I got no response.

I knocked again, this time I called as well. “Matron? It’s me, may I come in?”

There was silence for a moment, and then I heard her footsteps padding across the stone floor. The door opened and she looked at me with sadness in her eyes.

“Karkat. Welcome home.”

“I’m sorry to have upset you earlier today. I didn’t mean to.” I held out my hands, palms up, and looked her straight in the eye. A sign of apology.

“It’s alright, young one. Come inside, we can speak in private, I can tell you have something to say.”

I followed her into the small stone room, with one large stained glass window, and I watched her sit in front of the alter. I sat down beside her and considered what I was going to say for a bit before anything actually came out. “I went to Light’s tear today with the Guard. The Sisters tell me it’s full of darkness and to never go back.”

She sighed and clasped her hands together. “They are right. It is full of darkness. There are forces there that are beyond our ability to dispel, which means they are incredibly powerful.”

“There was a girl there. With red hair. They call her a priestess, a prophet.”

“Prophets are exceedingly rare. She most certainly cannot see anything.”

“They said she foretold a man’s future, told him when and where he would find his true love. He just married the woman.”

“There are many instances in which one tells another that something is going to happen, and in wishing for it they cause it to happen. Karkat it is dangerous there.”

“But that girl, She is so sad there!”

“Do not go back. She has likely been there a long time, there is no saving her at this point. She has renounced the old Gods and will not accept them again.”

Matron was always so kind and accepting. I was taken-aback yet again. “I’m going to graduate up a ranking in a few months. When I do I will be expected to go there daily with the rest of the Guard.”

“Then you will cease training and stay here. Find work in the city.”

This time it took me a long time to find my words. I had no idea what to tell her, but I knew something needed to be said. And then I found it.

“Matron, I am drawn to her. Something about her tells me I need to speak to her, and I just know it’s important.”

And then she did one more thing I had never imagined she would ever do. She started crying.

“Matron? Are you okay? What’s wrong?”

She didn’t speak for a long while, she seemed so distraught, I had no idea what to do. But I held her hands and I stayed by her until she finally stopped. She squeezed my hands and she looked up at me and she said “Okay. Go and speak to her. If you feel that drawn then it is very important and I trust that you know how to tell the difference between fascination and a sign from the Gods. But please be ever so careful, and do not go back too often.”

That was far too easy, I expected her to push back much more than she did. “Matron, what changed? Why did you give in so suddenly?”

“Because I trust you. I trust you will do the right thing.” She looked down to my wrists and rubbed her thumb over the bandages still tied there. “Because you are so important and you will change everything.”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to that either, but I got the impression there wasn’t any way to respond so I left it at that. I stayed by her and prayed quietly until we heard the Sisters going to bed. We waited until they were all in their rooms, and then we each went to bed as well.

I could barely sleep that night, my eyes were kept open, and I was haunted by her words. “You are so important and you will change everything.”

Everything? How much is everything? Why am I so important?

And who is the girl in Light’s tear?

~

The next morning was a bit of a blur, I was too distracted to eat my breakfast and had to take it with me again, even though I left at the usual time.

When I got to the Hold the Guard was just getting back, so I waited in the courtyard for Tavros to find me. We had a shorter day than usual, there weren’t as many tasks to do so we were done by three, and Tavros and I took the opportunity to go find Gamzee.

The two of them were my best friends, I told Tavros most of my secrets and he told me his, and Gamzee could always make us laugh. He was the only bard left for miles, and was highly sought after, but he chose to lay about most days and sing what he wished instead of what was asked. Though he would take requests from those who could spare a coin or two.

His favorites were old tales of the Gods, and sometimes of heroes they chose to represent them, or fight for them. I liked those stories, they were fully of glory and strength. And I needed some of both today.

We were all sitting in a small rock formation near the town, halfway between there and the Bridge. And we were all sort of tired and ready for a nap. Gamzee was humming along to one of his favorite tunes, lazily tracing clouds in the sky with his hand. And I was still thinking about what Matron had said to me the night before.

“You are so important and you will change everything.”

“What are you thinking about?” Tavros interrupted my reverie and brought me back to reality. “You looked so far away.”

Gamzee blinked lazily at us both, forgetting the hand still in the air. “Yeah, you look like you’re thinking of something way far away.”

I inhaled the sweet smell of fresh grass, and the salt from the sea not too far away. “Something Matron said to me last night.”

“What was it?” Tavros asked, just as Gamzee remembered his hand. He had looked so startled I had to laugh as he slowly brought it back down to his chest. “What, what’s funny?”

“Did you see what he just did?” I managed to gasp out, and Gamzee started to chuckle as well.

“No, what happened?”

Neither of us could form words to describe the tiny miracle that had just transpired, we just smiled until we could breath again.

“Fine don’t tell me.” Tavros reached over and slapped my elbow gently. “But do tell me what you were thinking about before, about Matron. I’m so curious!”

“She said that I’m important, and that I am going to change everything.” I took another deep breath. “I’ve got no idea how but I’m not inclined to write her off.”

“Whoah, that is huge. I wonder what she meant?” Tavros’ eyes widened and he looked down as he thought about it.

“Do you think she means church reform?” Gamzee asked, scratching his nose. “Because the church could use a lot of change.”

“I don’t know. But she said it right after I mentioned the priestess in Light’s tear.”

Tavros suddenly sat up and slapped a hand over my mouth. “Shhh! You weren’t supposed to tell anyone!” He hissed.

I tried to reply but his hand on my mouth made that difficult. Gamzee only looked at us funny until Tavros removed his hand. “Oh, come on. Did you really think he was never going to find out?”

“He isn’t technically supposed to.” Tavros pouted a bit. “Oh, I’ll be in so much trouble if he tells anyone!”

“Don’t worry my brother, I can keep a secret.” Gamzee placed a finger over his mouth and winked. “So who is this priestess you mentioned?”

“She was at Light’s tear the other day, when Tavros brought me along to the Guard’s worship. And for some reason I think I need to talk to her.”

“That’s forbidden! Knights and Pages aren’t allowed to go near the priestess unless they are one of four chosen few who look after her and keep her safe.” Tavros seemed desperate to remedy the situation, looking worried about getting caught just talking about her. “No one’s supposed to know she’s there, she’s in danger!”

“In danger from what? Is there a dragon or something on the loose out for holy blood?” Gamzee snorted in laughter and pulled a small loaf out his pocket. It had bits of lint on it which he daintily picked off before taking a bite.

“No, she’s in danger from the heretics. Those who believe in the new Religion would consider her a monster and try to hang her, and those of the old Gods would consider her a blasphemer and would have her burned.” He was whispering at this point, “Or there are those that would use her for her gift. If anyone found out it would be disastrous. You must tell no one!”

I wasn’t about to point out that every Sister knew already, he seemed to panicked, I let it go. “Tavros I need to talk to her, it just feels so important for some reason. I heard her talking and I just felt compelled to.”

“I can’t let you, you know that. My entire life of training is at stake just talking of it.”

“I think Karkat’s got an itch that can only be scratched by one thing.” Gamzee piped up. “I for one am curious as all get out to see what becomes of it.”

Tavros’ mouth fell open, and he tried to speak again but after a few moments he gave in. “You’re both going to gang up on me, aren’t you?” We both nodded. “Fine. But I will have no part in it, and don’t tell me when you’re going or I’ll tell. Plus, there’s guards up there so it’ll be impossible to get in anyway.”

“I promise I won’t get caught.” I placed a hand over my chest and he sighed. “You can trust me, I won’t hurt her.”

He sighed heavily and got up. “I know you won’t. But I will keep my vow. I will never tell another soul of her existence, and I hope you will do the same.” And he left.

“Looks like we up and upset him.” Gamzee watched him go with a sad look in his eye. “Didn’t mean to learn any secrets if he was so intent on keepin’ ‘em.”

“I know you won’t tell anyone, you’re good at that. But I just might need your help getting into that temple. You in?”

“Do you even need to ask, brother?” The grin that spread across his face was exactly what I needed to see. “Let’s go find ourselves a holy girl.”


End file.
